Founder of Missouri State's defense and strategic studies program was unfazed by controversy

11:32 PM,
Mar. 30, 2013

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William R. Van Cleave, a leading Cold War proponent of the "Star Wars" missile defense system and founder of Missouri State University's Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, died March 15 of natural causes at his home in Idyllwild, Calif. He was 77.

Van Cleave was a man unfazed by controversy who said he preferred the cool reason of rigorous research and study, found in academia, to the ever-changing winds of politics. Van Cleave was Ronald Reagan's top political adviser on national defense matters from 1979 to 1981. Reagan was first elected in 1980.